Plans for a major retail food store at Station Yard, Long Sutton, Lincolnshire must now be put on hold following a High Court ruling.
Smith J has ruled that the decision to allow the development was such that “no reasonable planning committee could have taken”. She has now ordered that the matter be reconsidered.
The ruling followed a challenge by Lincoln Co-operative Society to South Holland District Council planning committee’s decision last February to grant consent to Westry Developments Ltd for a store just outside of the town centre.
Backing the Co-ops stance, the judge said that, standing alone, the proposed development contravened the local development plan when consideration was given to the harm to the vitality and viability of the town centre through diversion of trade.
She said that a similar scheme had been rejected in 1998 on the grounds that there was no need for a supermarket in Long Sutton, particularly after planning permission had been given for one at Holbeach, and that there was nothing new in the present proposals except for the offer of £100,000.
Save for a suggestion that some of the money could be spent on repaving, there had been “no evaluation of what could be achieved with that sum”, and the benefits that might be derived from this payment were “a matter of pure speculation”.
“I accept that the committee is entitled to take into account their members own local knowledge. But I am not persuaded that the committees local knowledge could possibly have given them grounds for believing the sum of £100,000 could significantly redress the harm envisaged let alone outweigh it”, the judge added.
The council must now reconsider its decision in the light of the judges findings.
Lincoln Co-operative Society Ltd v South Holland District Council Queen’s Bench Division: Administrative Court (Smith J) 14 November 2000.
Nicholas Nardecchia (instructed by Andrew & Co, of Lincoln) appeared for the applicant; Timothy Corner (instructed by the solicitor to South Holland District Council) appeared for the respondents.
PLS News 15/11/00
